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My kids... though not in college both have prepaid teen cards... I can add money to them as needed. They work just like a regular debit card with there names on them.... They can even have there paychecks direct deposited to the acct. no intrest fees or anything like that and they can not get introuble with over charges ect..

She had money for her meal plan. She had money on another school card for laundry, to use at the bookstore etc. Then she had a debit card to use off campus.
She had some cash too and got more on breaks. Our dd is 7 hours away.
We never gave her any limit and she didn't overspend.

is it through a bank, if so which bank? or is it through a credit card company, if so which one? Do they have a visa logo, or master card logo on it?

Quoting Its.Me.Mama:

My kids... though not in college both have prepaid teen cards... I can add money to them as needed. They work just like a regular debit card with there names on them.... They can even have there paychecks direct deposited to the acct. no intrest fees or anything like that and they can not get introuble with over charges ect..

so she had a debit card to a bank account that you/she put money into... correct? did the atm card go to a checking or savings? did she get the statements for balancing or did you?

Quoting atlmom2:

She had money for her meal plan. She had money on another school card for laundry, to use at the bookstore etc. Then she had a debit card to use off campus.
She had some cash too and got more on breaks. Our dd is 7 hours away.
We never gave her any limit and she didn't overspend.

we used billmyparents when we first got one for my son, we switched to upside when we got my daughter hers. They are Visa Debit Cards. There is also an American Express prepaid card also.

My son is a very good singer, and goes on trips all over doing competions with his choral group, it is so easy for him, some of the other kids go with prepaid gift cards and not all places will take those. I also have access to the account so if it starts running low I know it and can add money and its available immediatly.

You can do a google search for best teen prepaid cards and figure out what one is best for you and your child. There are several to choose from.

The statements went to us. She probably only spent a few hundred during the year. No one balances that account checking account really, lol. Dh just looks at the statements. It started out with almost $800 and it is just under $500 now. Most of her spending money was on her 2 school cards. It is our local bank. She got that account when she was 14 but never used it.

Quoting sahlady:

so she had a debit card to a bank account that you/she put money into... correct? did the atm card go to a checking or savings? did she get the statements for balancing or did you?

Quoting atlmom2:

She had money for her meal plan. She had money on another school card for laundry, to use at the bookstore etc. Then she had a debit card to use off campus.

I know the visa gift cards have fees, so if you dont use it you loose it. Are billmyparents and/or upside like that?

Quoting Its.Me.Mama:

we used billmyparents when we first got one for my son, we switched to upside when we got my daughter hers. They are Visa Debit Cards. There is also an American Express prepaid card also.

My son is a very good singer, and goes on trips all over doing competions with his choral group, it is so easy for him, some of the other kids go with prepaid gift cards and not all places will take those. I also have access to the account so if it starts running low I know it and can add money and its available immediatly.

You can do a google search for best teen prepaid cards and figure out what one is best for you and your child. There are several to choose from.

www.upsidevisa.com/comparePlans.aspx There are differnt plans you can sign up for. Right now the one we have there is a 2.50 fee to add money to their cards, but my kids can not use an ATM machine but can get cash back with with a purchase. There is a plan for 2.99 a month that you can use the atm and no fee for adding money.. We dont add money every month so the one we have works best for us.

If they loose thier card or its stolen you can call and have it cancled and a new one sent out, just like with any card..

The first two.We give them an Am Ex card when they start driving.Depending on their current life they have a budget.In high school it is only used for gas or things like a backpack or new mom approved running shoes.No movies or other stuff that's their cash allowance.In college we give a budget that includes Target type stuff...shampoo ,her hair dryer died along with a part of their allowance.We have never had a overspend issue for more than 10 or 15 dollars a couple of times.We provide allowance so we just deducted .

Their schools also had a''school mascot"Bucks Card...we could put money on it.It was good for any on campus purchases plus we got something like 10% more if we added more than a 1OO.It was connected to their page that has grades ,tuition,parking tickets : ( so with a code we could see where they spent their money on campus.They could get cash off it on campus.We loaded it several times a year once in the fall but much less several times in the spring so we wouldn't lose money.Once the money is on the card you can't get it back but it was able to be used at other schools

With our oldest son we opened a checking account in the town he was in.It was rarely used except to pay tuition.Now she just charges it to Am Ex and we pay it that month...no AM EX points for tuition damn it ; ) It still feels weird to open that bill in the fall and spring ....